Final Draft Two

Revision

I have come to know revision as a refinement, merely building my paper into a more profound writing for the reader. I focus on my own thoughts and how I can improve my paper. I’ve had a tremendous amount of year’s writing papers, stories and anything along the writing process, and from all my years of writing I have never truly enjoyed revision. I knew the main reason why I never saw it as beneficial was because most of the time I revised only to please the teacher. I did not know how to revise in a way that made my paper more confident in my own thoughts. Like most courses in junior high and high school writing was never taken seriously, especially the revision process. Most students have trouble revising their papers because either they see no point to it, or because it is not clear how to revise in a way that the teacher wants them to.

My Encounter with Revision

I do best on a paper when I feel strongly about the topic and know exactly what I am talking about so when my teacher or instructor adds a comment for me to revise, I can clearly correct it and make it better. We as students must look at revision as defending our paper from the teacher. Sometimes a teacher might tear down your spirit but when you revise your paper, this is your chance to really enhance your paper. I see now how essential revision plays in the writing a paper. It goes within the paper and corrects not only the minor mistakes but also the wording and point being conveyed. We should see it has making our paper a masterpiece.
The Meaning behind Revision

“Revision is an important tool for improving one’s writing skills and fostering critical thinking about content in any discipline” (Muldoon 69). We see that “the ability to revise is significant because it helps the writer reflect and clarify his or her thinking with the goal of improving the writing” says Stephanie Dix (566). It also “enhances the work” says Jill Fitzgerald (481). Even though we should see it as improving our paper we don’t always see it that way. Wendy Bishop agrees when she writes, “because of such feelings, it’s difficult for some writers to see that for most of us revision is the only road to success” (3). Most of us feel revising is simply going back and correcting all the mistakes you made, you have to overlook your paper, and most people see it as failure. Another stumbling block that discourages some is the stereotypical view of revision. We think revision is drudgery and only the first draft is original. Susan McLeod states, “With this kind of myth helping to shape our emotional reactions to writing, it is no wonder that many of us (not just students) get discouraged waiting for inspiration to strike, or that we resent having to revise our work if we feel inspiration has produced it”(3). It depends on our viewpoint towards revision and that will determine how effective we use revision.

The Relationship between Student and Teacher

A teacher’s commentary can affect the attitude of the student, especially on revision. In the article, “Teacher-Written Commentary in College”, Maria O. Tregilia brought out that the “interaction between the student and teacher has a big impact on the writing of the student. How the teacher uses commentary distinguishes how the student will revise”. Good commentary will allow the student to revisit their paper and be able to make appropriate corrections, rethink and be able to express themselves more vividly. When teachers or instructors “criticize and measure“ the mistakes, instead of actually wanting to encourage more learning, thinking, or critique on part of students, student fail to revise effectively. We can also see in the same article that “instructors have structured the revision process not dialogically, but as a one-way street: teachers provide feedback and critique that students are expected to assimilate; little, if any, room is provided for students to respond to or resist this feedback” (69). In order to have good revision “the give-and-take between teachers and students that critical revision promotes encourages students to reflect on and think critically about their authorial decisions and their interpretation or analysis of particular subject matter” (Andrea Muldoon 70).

Revision from Different Aspects

It is true that even with all the help from the teacher “ older and/or more competent writers tend to do more revising for meaning and make more sentence- and theme-level changes than do younger and/ or less competent writers” (Fitzgerald 492). From regular students to experienced writers we see the difference in the forms of writing. In Nancy Sommers conveys that students see “the revision process as a rewording activity” (381). Students “approach the revision process with what could be labeled as thesaurus philosophy writing” (381). Sommers also adds that the experienced writer focus on “finding the form or shape of the argument” (384). She goes on to say that the experienced writer see the “anticipation of the reader’s judgment causes a feeling of dissonance when the writer recognizes congruities between intention and execution, and requires these writers to make revisions on all levels” (385). This issue’s importance seems to center on how age and experience affect revision.

The Essence of Revision

From the viewpoint of experts and myself, I see that revision is something deeply important as the form of writing itself. It is evident that students lack the true definition of revision mainly because they do not feel it is essential or because they feel inadequate to actually revise appropriately. I have learned from these articles that the main focus is to go deep into your work and feel strongly about what the writing. By doing this you will be able to perfect even more by revising. From experienced writers view I have learned that they focus more on the reader, how the reader will interpret the meaning. The most important thing to have in mind is how the audience feels about your paper. We as writers want to have an effect, to be able to truly express ourselves and perfect our writing that makes is understandable to all. Teachers and students must come together, learn from each other to have an effective impact in forms of revision. Revision does not come easy to all students, teachers must use different tactics and strategies that will help the student come to know revision and truly grow from there.